OWARI, Elsewhere: The Blogs

I've been fiddling with the blog sidebar again, and I think I have it the way I want it (for now). As I audited my links, it occurred to me that I have a number of sites in the old repertoire that I don't link anymore. Many of them are defunct but still online. In this series, I'll give you links to other places you could once find me on the internet.

Part I: The Blogs

Still Active

* Continued Next Week! (2012-    )

Retired

* Captain Satellite's Fun Fun Central (2003-2010)
* Earth B (2006)
* Not Christopher Elam's OWARI (2012)¹
* Pictures of Naomi Morinaga (2012-2014)²

Deleted

* OWARI Tumblr Annex (christopherelam.tumblr.com) was my original personal Tumblr founded in January 2012, but it fell early victim to my issues with that site. It was finally deleted later that year. I re-registered the url as a placeholder but deleted it for good a couple of months ago.

* At various points, I have had blogs on the following services before deleting them: Journalfen, Myspace, GreatestJournal (site closed), Yahoo 360 (site closed), and possibly others. Additionally, I had an RP account on GreatestJournal, an alternate parody account on LiveJournal and a couple of "secret" blogs on LJ. All of that is scattered to the four winds now. Except for El Beardo.

* There was at one time a "returnofjetman" community on LiveJournal, too. I am fuzzy on both when it was founded (2004?) and when it was deleted (no idea anymore).

Other

* Begun in 2009 and then largely forgotten, there is a syndicated LiveJournal feed for this blog. It is still dutifully picking up posts even though I don't think anyone follows it except my old account.




Endnotes

¹(Placeholder blog to prevent spammers from claiming the celamowari.blogspot.com url again.)

²An earlier version of this blog existed at the same url from 2011-2012 but was deleted.

Naomi Morinaga Makes A Comeback!

I'd like to think this will put an end once and for all to all the searches about her being dead.

It was birthday boy Igadevil (hope it was a great one!) who broke the news to me on Twitter: Naomi Morinaga is making a comeback in Toei's new V-Cinema Space Sheriff projects! Yes, "Annie" will be returning and also returning will be Den Iga, the original Sharivan. This means we're getting both Naomi Morinaga and Hiroshi Watari, her co-star on the series SPIELBAN.

This is very exciting news for me, and probably for a lot of people who wind up on this blog. If you'd like to keep updated, Toei has uchukeiji.com for that purpose. There are also links to Twitter and Facebook pages for the project. You bet I'm following both of them!

Happy Birthday, Naomi Morinaga!

Brief post today, but I want to acknowledge the birthday of the one and only Naomi Morinaga! Yes, the Japanese actress who causes more people to end up at OWARI than any other subject celebrates a birthday on March 12. According to the Japanese Wikipedia*, she was born in 1964. Yep, that makes her 50 today! Wow, that is...a sobering thought.

I hope Naomi is having a happy birthday wherever she is in her post-fame life. I don't know of an official or even unofficial site for her, other than my own Pictures of Naomi Morinaga. I hope that will suffice.



*I qualify this because the English Wikipedia gives 1965. I am going to trust the Japanese source here.

Good Blogkeeping

Let's go through this via bullet points, shall we?

• Continued Next Week! recently passed a milestone - 100 followers! Especially surprising is that this was at least partially due to a photo of Jane Adams I posted over a year ago. Still, I am happy people seem to enjoy this little side project of mine. Not bad when you consider I almost closed it twice.
  
  
• Rene Bond Tribute on Facebook has almost made it to 100 Likes! I find this particularly gratifying, since I was questioning even continuing it a month ago. There have been some potentially exciting developments happen since then. My hope is that they will eventually lead to my goal - a better picture of who Rene Bond was as a human being.
  
  
• On the other side of the coin, Pictures of Naomi Morinaga has been throttling down a little bit. I never get much feedback on this, but surely someone is visiting it. I've just gone through a couple of image folders there, and don't have as much ambition for it right now. Whether that will return is something I don't wanna guess. However, it WILL be sticking around.
  
  
• I am slowly working my way through the archives here, tagging entries better and fixing some formatting issues that have cropped up on some old posts. I'm only at the end of 2010 right now, so this is not a project that is going to be finished anytime soon. A similar project is occurring on my Tumblr, though that might -- MIGHT -- get done sooner.
  
  
• I have one more blog post sitting in the queue that needs to be finished and posted. Other than that, I am planning on taking the rest of this month off here. I need to recharge the old batteries, and I have at least one (*GASP*) deadline that I need to meet. Barring unforeseen circumstances, of course (and they always seem to come up), it's time for a mini-vacation from blogging.
  

Big In The Philippines

So, this happened last week.

I have to say, I never anticipated the significant number of hits I've received from the Philippines. They are my Number #2 referring country, after the United States. Whether it's from an entertainment list site or a forum for "Pinoy Pistol Enthusiasts" (sadly, you must register to view it), I thank my Filipino friends for always being a consistent audience for OWARI.

(OK, yes, almost all of them are here for Naomi Morinaga. Indulge me!)

Other Links

Other projects associated with OWARI

Return of Jetman

Pictures of Naomi Morinaga

Continued Next Week!

Rene Bond Tribute

Last modified November 28, 2013

Calling All Naomi Morinaga Fans!

I checked Google not very long ago, and Pictures of Naomi Morinaga was the #2 match for Naomi Morinaga. Additionally, this blog clocks in at both the #3 and #10 positions. I still don't know what to make of this foolishness, since I am just a guy living in a rural area of the southern United States. Yet I am responsible for three of the top ten Google results for a Japanese actress? Well, OK.

This does bring to mind an oddity that I am hoping some Naomi fans will help rectify. As I said, my Naomi Morinaga image blog is currently the #2 match for the lady. However, it only numbers a measly 31 Tumblr followers - and one of them is me! If it's so popular, where are the followers? Do the majority of its visitors simply not have Tumblr accounts? I assume yes.

If you enjoy "Pictures of Naomi Morinaga" and are interested in possibly further exploring Tumblr, why not sign up for an account to follow? It's free and easy and you'll even have your own Tumblr when you're done!

EDIT: A reminder that "Pictures of Naomi Morinaga", while tasteful, is NSFW.

Two Tumblrs, No Waiting

I don't think I ever uploaded this promotional graphic here after I made it in October, so here it is as I promote these two side projects of mine. Details? Oh sure!


Pictures of Naomi Morinaga is an image blog dedicated to the Japanese actress and stuntwoman best known for appearing as “Annie" in the SF superhero TV series Space Sheriff Shaider. However, Morinaga’s career was far more than just Annie, and this blog attempts to cover the full range of her résumé. It even ventures into her forays in nude modeling, and thus is NSFW (though tastefully so).

This blog is one that I would recommend to people interested in Japanese superheroes of any type, super heroines of any nationality, and/or fans of beautiful women.


Continued Next Week! is an image blog run by yours truly dedicated to movie serials. There is a slightly greater emphasis placed on science-fiction and superheroes, as that is the primary direction of my interests. However, I have tried to spotlight all kinds of serials - including silents and non-U.S. chapter plays. I also focus on those performers who appeared in the cliffhangers of yore.

I would recommend this blog to anyone interested in the above subjects or to anyone who would like to see posts on vintage film. Heck, just the aesthetics of these photos might be worth a glance!

The Eternal Naomi Mystery

One of the most puzzling aspects of this blog since I opened it is how people looking for Naomi Morinaga constantly wind up here. Well, it's a lot less puzzling now that I have a specific tag for her and an image blog that is linked in the sidebar. But that was done at least partially because people kept winding up here anyway. I figured I should help them out a little.

I like Naomi Morinaga. I like her so much, I have even periodically collected images of her over the years. That collection serves as the foundation for Pictures of Naomi Morinaga (NSFW). But the truth is, I don't have either a wealth of knowledge or opinions about her. That's why this blog was active for over a year and a half before I ever got around to writing about her in-depth. Almost everything since that initial entry is either a supplement or a discussion of the image blog.

So, what gives? Beats me. I knew Naomi Morinaga was a cult figure, but the volume of traffic I receive seeking her stuns me. Literally at least half of my daily hits pertain to her. There is clearly an audience for Naomi content, and apparently, I fill the bill. Which...well, why me?

I still am not sure why I have become such a destination for Naomi fans. However, if I'm going to be remembered as "the Naomi Morinaga guy," I decided I should at least do justice to her and not perpetrate the hack jobs I've seen that try to spread opinions as facts. The lady deserves better than that from people who identify themselves as fans.

"Pictures of Naomi Morinaga" exists partially out of whimsy and partially out of responsibility. I don't take it especially seriously, and would caution everyone to do the same. At its core, it's about posting images of a pretty girl. There's absolutely nothing wrong with that, and I've tried to bring a sense of fun to it. My earlier attempt felt more like homework, but now...well, I'm enjoying it. I guess other people are, too. I don't have proof, but I have the suspicion it is the most popular site I maintain by a wide margin.

By the same token, I am also trying to get across the fact (occasionally lost on people) that Naomi deserves respect alongside the adulation. I've tried to cover the entirety of her career instead of glossing over bits of it. All too often, I've seen sites that either whitewash her later projects in favor of the superhero stuff or focus exclusively on anything depicting nudity. Both approaches do a disservice to her. She was both a superhero show star and a sultry sex symbol. I'm not sure why one aspect must be ignored? Well, I do know the reasons, but it's not a path I choose to follow. If we're going to celebrate Naomi Morinaga, let's give equal time to all aspects of her.

Anyway, that's enough of the soapbox. Pictures of Naomi Morinaga is about fun! If you like Naomi, pop over there and see what all the fuss is about!

Leave It To Tokusatsu Gals!

Not only is this week another installment in the Tokusatsu Gals Wallpaper Series from Kabuki Katze, but this particular subject is one near and dear to my heart. Yatta! It's Annie, the character that defined the career of the wonderful Naomi Morinaga!

I am really thrilled to get to see a chibi Annie from KK, since I had introduced her to the career some time ago. As longtime readers may recall, Annie had a huge influence on my own Shelly Ericson, and that includes in the wardrobe department. Shelly is often influenced by Annie's outfits, and occasionally sports one that is a dead-ringer for this particular version!

Share, love, and enjoy! And be back next week to get "switched on" with another tokusatsu heroine!

Naomi Morinaga vs. Yuriko Hishimi

Since Yuriko Hishimi has come up twice this month, this seems like as good a time as any for me to ask a question which has bothered me for some time. As you might have gathered from my provocative title, it also involves Naomi Morinaga. Now, these two ladies have never fought, and I don't think they have ever appeared in anything together. Heck, they may not have even met, though such an occurrence would not be out of the question. No, this is more about how the two of them have oddly parallel careers, and the different reaction they have generated as a result.

Understand, both Naomi and Yuriko garnered their greatest fame with roles in superhero shows - Yuriko in ULTRASEVEN in 1967, Naomi in SHAIDER in 1984. Both were 19-20 while shooting those series, and both played characters with coincidentally similar names ("Anne" for Yuriko, "Annie" for Naomi). Both later had other prominent tokusatsu parts (for example, Yuriko was GODZILLA VS. GIGAN and Naomi a regular on SPIELBAN), but nothing that eclipsed the characters that initially earned their recognition. And most tellingly for the question I am asking, both would later do racy photoshoots and appear in films that run counter to the image of the superhero shows.

My question is, why is there such a difference in perception between what these two ladies did in their careers when they did essentially the exact same thing? Both are revered as cult figures, but Western fans seem to give Yuriko Hishimi a pass for her nude photos and movies like "Bohachi Bushido: Code of the Forgotten Eight" (aka "Porno Jidaigeki"), whereas Naomi Morinaga is lamented as having "done porno" for her nude pictures and movies like "Toriko."

To clarify, neither woman did what we would term "pornography" in this day and age. It was softcore, not hardcore, and their photo books and movies are sold through dealers that would not carry explicit material. It's not any different in terms of exposure than those erotic thrillers that were so popular at one time in this country. It's just that Western fans don't seem to care so much about Yuriko Hishimi's colorful resume, while there is always some sort of hand-wringing and sorrow over Naomi's choices. I don't get it.

Both women were adults - in fact, Naomi was older when she did her first film nude scene (in a Toei production, no less). Neither was exploited in any way I can determine - their photos are all beautiful and tasteful, and while many of their films are not my cup of tea, they certainly don't cross any line. Both women made choices that they felt were best for their careers, and more power to them. I just sometimes feel like there is some sort of double-standard at work, as if Naomi is put on a higher pedestal for some odd reason.

I am a big fan of both Yuriko Hishimi and Naomi Morinaga. I am in no way judging either one of them. Heck, I applaud them for carving out long careers for themselves in a culture where that is not always encouraged for women. I just wish some tokusatsu fans could move past their small-minded attitudes and stop acting as if they have been done a disservice just because their childhood idol took her clothes off in front of a camera. Get over yourself.

Naomi Morinaga Is Not Dead

Since the Internet has apparently elected me an "authority" on Naomi Morinaga, I want to clear up something that has been showing up in my dropdown menu for her on Google. Namely, "naomi morinaga death" and "naomi morinaga cause of death" keep showing up among the top matches for the lady. As you can imagine, I find that somewhat upsetting.

Let me assure all the Naomi Morinaga fans out there that, as far as anyone knows, Naomi Morinaga is alive and well. Here is her Japanese Wikipedia page. Notice there is no date of death. If anyone would know, it would be the people who administer the Japanese Wikipedia. The American one is usually updated within minutes of the reports of a celebrity's death.

Here is the pertinent portion of Naomi's entry:

1998年に引退後に結婚、現在は1児の母。

I won't pretend to be able to translate that precisely, but here is the gist of it:

She retired from public life in 1998 after her marriage. She is currently the mother of 1 child.

I know Naomi's fans miss her, but she decided to leave the spotlight after she got married. Considering the trajectory of her career, I can understand her decision. It doesn't look like she was involved in the recent Space Sheriffs video game, and I suspect she won't be appearing in the new GAVAN movie either. Though I have to say, Annie making a cameo in that film would be a nice touch.

I think what happened was that the very real death of Naomi's SHAIDER co-star Hiroshi Tsuburaya in 2001 coupled with her retirement has led to confusion among her fanbase. Well, as of this moment, Naomi Morinaga is alive and well. I sincerely hope that she has found happiness and contentment in retirement.

Man, I need to add a "Naomi Morinaga" tag to this blog. Meanwhile, enjoy the revived Pictures of Naomi Morinaga! You'll be glad you did!

15 Minutes of Tumblr Fame

Well, this is interesting. It started on Thursday night when Tom Brevoort published this request on his "Marvel Age of Comics" Tumblr. Based on his response, Tom had never heard of Kaliman. I had, but just barely. Kaliman is a Mexican superhero. But what was this Kaliman/Galactus business?

Well, a little web searching yielded the surprising answer. It seems a few Kaliman comic book covers depict him fighting Marvel characters. There's not only Galactus, but also Doctor Doom and a trio of Things! I have no idea what's going on inside those books, but the covers are pretty wild.

As you can see, I decided to upload those covers to Tumblr myself after dropping Tom a line about them. Well, Tom reblogged them, and my Tumblr dashboard subsequently EXPLODED with activity. I've been reblogged by that account many times, but never on a post I'd uploaded myself - much less THREE. What makes it even funnier is this all happened over the weekend. I'm curious to see what happens now that the work week has begun.

In other Tumblr news, I have resurrected Pictures of Naomi Morinaga from the grave. Same URL, different blog. This one is labeled a "secondary" blog, so it cannot follow people or like posts. However, you Naomi fans may bookmark it to keep up. Considering all the hits the post about it here still gets, I figured I should include SOMETHING there. Whether it does anything more than reblog, well...we'll see.

Speaking of secondary blogs, this feature so fascinated me that I launched another Tumblr - Continued Next Week! Since there are apparently ZERO movie serial-specific Tumblrs (despite things like The Same Picture of Dave Coulier Every Day existing there), I decided to fill that void myself. The same rules apply as with the Naomi Tumblr - it cannot follow people or like posts itself. I really love serial imagery, and this will allow me to consolidate my posts about them in one spot.

I know this sounds like a lot, but it's all as easy as a dropdown menu after a single login. I don't expect either of these to have as big a volume as I've been maintaining on my regular Tumblr. In fact, I'm leaning toward easing off a little there. I mean, it's not as if I post as much as some people I know there, but some of the luster has been wearing off. I'm sure I just need to concentrate on what is inspiring me at the moment.

Finally, this will not be important in any way, but this exists now. There used to be a spam account at that URL many moons ago, and I believe it was Kabuki Katze who suggested registering it for myself just to claim the name. That sounded like a good idea to me, and since this was apparently my weekend for starting new sub-blogs, I just did it. There are no plans for any posting there, but then again, I didn't plan to post on THIS blog when I first created it.

This 'n' That

I had intended to post an update yesterday, but my ISP was acting up for reasons unclear. That means everything I wanted to do online got pushed back to today. Couple that with serving jury duty last week, and you have a recipe for my best-laid plans for a schedule falling by the wayside yet again.

Well, what's up? I do have some things in the pipeline, honest. In fact, there are two entries in draft form that I am bound and determined to get finished. They have been in the planning stages since prior to the lightning incident. I SWEAR, ONE DAY THEY WILL BE ON THIS BLOG.

I've also been very quietly making some updates to a few older entries. Why? Well, I can't tell you just yet. It will be more obvious when the full roll out happens. I just am not sure when that will be. Sigh.

Basically, what I'm trying to say is I have too many ideas and not nearly enough time and ambition to execute them all. Story of my life, really.

In Tumblr news transmissions, I've folded a couple of my older ones. That includes the Naomi Morinaga one. I lost interest in maintaining it, and it became a little bit of a headache in some respects. But never fear! I am still maintaining a healthy Naomi Morinaga Tumblr presence on OWARI 2.0! It's just not exclusively Naomi anymore.

That's all I have today, but there will be more to come. Bank on it!

Tumblin'!

Rather than try to think of a new way to phrase this, here's the text from the final post of Pictures of Naomi Morinaga.

The End Of The Adventure

This Tumblr was born out of both whimsy and cynicism. I had noticed that an entry about Naomi Morinaga on my regular blog OWARI got views every single day. I reasoned that a Tumblr dedicated to nothing but pictures of her would definitely satisfy a need among a certain segment of the Internet.

It turns out I was right, but my interest in maintaining this side project has waned. Rather than letting the whole thing sit while people wait for it to update again, I’ve elected to announce today that Pictures of Naomi Morinaga is coming to a close. I have completed the photo set that launched the site in May, and this will be the final post here.

I appreciate everyone who has followed, liked, reblogged, or just paid attention to this modest little image blog. Most of all, I’d like to thank Naomi Morinaga for being so awesome. Pictures of Naomi Morinaga may be ending as an ongoing project, but it will remain for those of you looking for photos of this fantastic lady. There’s no reason to delete it, so I won’t.

For those of you who would like to continue to follow me on Tumblr, I have just opened the OWARI Tumblr Annex. I am uncertain how I will be using that account, but I figured I needed a “regular” one. I’m sure you will be seeing me lurking on Tumblr when and where you least expect it.

Sayonora, Naomi Morinaga fans.

If you would like to follow the all-new OWARI Tumblr account, you will find the link in the quoted text or in the blog's sidebar. My intention is for it to be a general audience Tumblr, akin to what you might find here. How much use I get out of it remains to be seen.

Welcome To Naomi Week!

Saaaay, have you been following Pictures of Naomi Morinaga over Tumblr way? Well, this is an excellent time to get over there and take a look! In honor of my birthday week, I am posting a new photo of Naomi every day Monday-Friday! So you are guaranteed fresh content every day this week!

Check it out! Naomi will love you if you do! (not really)

Pictures of Naomi Morinaga

Let me level with you guys. As you may have guessed, I haven't exactly been feeling it lately. Lots of reasons for that, and I'm working my way through them bit by bit. But a consequence has been that posting has been pretty light here. How long will it remain so? I don't have any idea.

There is one thing that consistently brings people here, regardless of whether I post anything or not. That is Naomi Morinaga, and at last check, my blog entry from October had surpassed her Wikipedia entry (!) in terms of popularity. I can't imagine that's going to last, but it's still rather surreal for me. It's also probably a bit surreal to my numerous visitors, since they usually are looking for something I don't supply.

Well, now we're going to blow the lid right off the search engines. Why? Because just a few hours ago, I launched Pictures of Naomi Morinaga. Yes, I have finally surrendered to the terrible social disease that is Tumblr with yet another achingly-specific image blog. At least now all those poor souls who arrive here looking for "pictures of Naomi Morinaga" have a safe and clear destination.

As of right now, "Pictures of Naomi Morinaga" will be occasionally posting photos of the actress from one of her tamer photo books. If the project continues, it will likely get to pictures that, while tasteful, are also definitely NSFW. Keep this in mind if you choose to add the site to your blogroll.

Pictures of Naomi Morinaga - Because that's what you want. And you know exactly who you are. Here's our first installment.

More Annie! And Diana Too!

I don't know why I am so surprised that my entry on Naomi Morinaga is fast becoming the most popular entry on this blog. I mean, I should've expected that, right? If you are one of the countless souls who end up at OWARI seeking Naomi, welcome. Why not take a look at the rest of the entries?

The thing that astonishes me the most is the the video I embedded in that entry has since been deleted, so all anyone is getting is my opinion of Naomi Morinaga. However, as it turns out, the video has made a subtle return. I won't embed it, but I'll instead link you to this. The first half is Diana from SPIELBAN, but the second half is the Annie video.

Ah yes, Diana and SPIELBAN. JIKUU SENSHI SPIELBAN is not a space sheriff per se, but it is in the same spirit as those earlier programs. Diana is a character a bit more advanced in terms of presentation, in that she gets to be an honest-to-goodness SUPER HEROINE. When I see Makoto Sumikawa (aka Jun Koyamaki) transforming into the Diana Lady armor, I know it's not still her inside the suit, but it's the principle of the matter. Interestingly, Naomi co-starred in SPIELBAN as the hero's sister, and got to be two DIFFERENT super characters (Hellvira and Helen Lady).

It seems wrong to have all this Naomi Morinaga talk without any pictures. Here are a trio of icons I created for LiveJournal (or one of its clones) several years ago. The first two are variations on the same theme using different fonts.  All are free for the taking, though crediting me would be appreciated if you use them.

Dedicated Follower Of Stats

Hello, my name is Christopher Elam, and I am addicted to my website stats.

I first got hooked on checking my site stats when I moved www.returnofjetman.com to a new server in 2007 (insert subtle plug here). I'd never bothered with them that much until I had them right at my fingertips. Then, it became hard to resist checking them all the time.

When I began the OWARI blog in January of last year, Blogger didn't have a feature for compiling stats, at least as far as I knew. I registered an account for a service, but I didn't get around to implementing it. I eventually started using Google's webmaster tools, but that was far from perfect in giving me the picture of what was getting hits on a blog as obscure as this one.

At some point a few months ago, Blogger introduced a "Stats" feature. I'm not sure exactly when - it says May, but it doesn't show any views for me until July. In any event, these Stats give a clearer picture of what is getting the most views on this blog. It doesn't fully address the issue of audience, because it doesn't account for my Facebook syndication of these posts or those folks who read via feeds. But it does give me an idea of what the most popular entries on this blog are. The results are sometimes surprising.

Right now, I'm going to take a look at a few of the most popular entries on this blog. As stated above, this only takes into account views since approximately July. That certainly shortchanges every post prior to that, including the entirety of 2009. But even with that caveat, and the wildly erratic functionality at times, I think this list is pretty indicative of what is driving people here.

• Superman And Batman - STARKERS : This isn't really a surprise, is it? It shouldn't be after the explosion of hits it generated. That has quieted down a lot over the last few days, but the entry still gets a few views every single day. A side effect is that it has also bumped up views of this entry linked in its body. But not nearly enough, so get clicking!
  
  
• Blue Behemoth's Bulletin Board : I love that this entry is popular, but I can't quite figure out why. It has more views than any other post devoted to either my superhero universe or my collaborations with Kabuki Katze. In fact, it's by a wide margin. What makes this entry so special? Is it the term "bulletin board"? That is my only guess at this point.
  
  
• Batman's Thoughts On Love : If we're being realistic here, this is probably the most viewed post on this blog. I mean, it's over a year old, and it drives in visitors every week. Just think how many of those happened before the Stats started recording them. But really, one look at it should explain why. Everyone loves Batman.
  
  
• Devo - Something For Everybody (2010) : This is my review of Devo's latest album. Interestingly, it is not people searching for "Devo" that garners this entry most of its attention, but people searching specifically for that new album. This is by far the most popular piece I've written in the music category. Recording industry, take note!
  
  
• SD Battle Japan : I have written about the Japanese superhero show BATTLE FEVER J a lot more on this blog than I would have expected. This particular post is the highest ranked of those discussions. I gather it turns up pretty highly in image searches for the series. I expect that means a lot of people are saving the GIF. Pretty funny when you consider it is one of the earliest examples of my attempts to learn how to color via Photoshop.
  
  
• Naomi Morinaga Kicks It Old School : Lost in the hubbub of the recent Superman/Batman post is the popularity of this entry. It has been steadily climbing every day, to the point where it's in the Top 10! This despite the fact that Toei apparently made a claim to get the video embedded in the body of the post removed from Youtube.
  
  
• Super Robot Red Baron : This particular Japanese superhero show has been afforded a U.S. DVD release, and is in fact now available ridiculously cheap through a bargain label. That's exactly the sort of thing that will increase the traffic, especially when it's something that is bit of a fringe thing for most of the usual suspects.
  

The only thing I truly take away from this list is that people that arrive here are interested in a lot of different subjects. I guess I'll keep doing what I'm doing and hope people find me!

Naomi Morinaga Kicks It Old School

I have lately been thinking a lot about Naomi Morinaga (森永 奈緒美 Morinaga Naomi), which is sort of appropriate when you realize that I am responsible for one of the top English language links pertaining to her. No, seriously! Fire up your favorite search engine and see where this cut & paste comic strip I did in 2003 falls in the results. According to Google, it currently ranks higher than her Wikipedia entry!

As you might gather, I was at one time quite taken with Naomi Morinaga, and I chose to satirize that in a series of comic strips. I can't say I was EVER as preoccupied as depicted there, but I still count her as my top celebrity crush. Why? Well, instead of just telling you, let me show you.



"Annie ni Omakase" by Naomi Morinaga

(Before you ask, yes, that is Naomi Morinaga singing. Though not terrible, it's obvious why music was not her call to glory.)

Naomi Morinaga is best known for her role as "Annie" in UCHU KEIJI SHAIDER ("Space Sheriff Shaider"). Naomi was only 20 years old at the time, and though she had been in the business since at least 1982, this would prove to be the moment that defined her career.

SHAIDER was the third space sheriff series, following GAVAN and SHARIVAN. The preceding two series had also featured heroic armored heroes with female assistants. The key difference was that Kenji Oba and Hiroshi Watari (stars of GAVAN and SHARIVAN, respectively) were both trained stuntmen and could carry fight scenes in their civilian identities until it was time for the guys in the suits. Hiroshi Tsuburaya, star of SHAIDER and grandson of Japanese SPFX master Eiji Tsuburaya, was most definitely not a trained stuntman. There were certain tricks that could help fake that to a degree, but there was no way Tsuburaya could equal Oba and Watari in that department.

Enter Naomi Morinaga. Previously, the female assistant's primary roles were to be pretty and pensive. It was rare for them to be called on for more than that. Morinaga was going to be different. Not only was she pretty, but she was also a trained stuntwoman. Therefore, it fell to her to carry the civilian identity fight scenes. You see all that crazy stuff in that video? She did it. Yes, even the rope swinging scene.

So Annie kicked serious butt, but she was still the sidekick. She consistently found herself at the bad guys' mercy, despite putting up an excellent fight, and had to be rescued by Shaider. This happened all the time. It seemed a bit unfair, considering she was doing the lion's share of the work and was also more charismatic than her heroic leading man. But that was the way it went, and really, it was a small amount of progress for such shows.

(Another parenthetical aside to mention that I have never worked out why Annie didn't rate her own special armor. After all, she was a space sheriff, too! Was it because her own planet was destroyed and thus she didn't rate one? Speaking of unfair...)

I can understand why SHAIDER played out the way it did, but it has always struck me as a missed opportunity on Toei's part. No disrespect to the late Hiroshi Tsuburaya, who was quite good in his role in spite of his limitations, but Naomi Morinaga really stole that show from him. I wish we could have seen the series reflect this and had the emphasis shifted more to Annie. I know it never would have happened, but it's the sort of thing that fires the imagination. Just think, Space Sheriff Annie as the pistol-packing, hard-driving, high-kicking female action star of the 1980s!

Morinaga's career had its ups and downs after SHAIDER. In the early to mid-1990s, she shifted into roles that were very far from Annie. Some folks have rather harshly and judgmentally characterized the phase of her career that led to things like TORIKO and the nude photobooks as a step down. The way I look at it, it's not much different than what a lot of American starlets do to get noticed. TORIKO was an erotic thriller. The books and layouts were, as far as I've seen, tastefully done. I have never seen anything that Morinaga did as degrading, and those that label it "pornography" may need to take a step back. The woman was in her 30s by that time, and the idea of continuing to put her body on the line doing stuntwork was probably looking less appealing. What's wrong with redefining your image?

(Final aside here : Though it is not a "dirty" movie by any means, TORIKO is exactly the sort of Japanese movie that I find incredibly maddening. The sad part is that Naomi is really quite good in it, her acting having improved markedly over the years. But even with her thespian skills and her undraped form, I still got rid of TORIKO. 'Nuff said?)

Naomi Morinaga has dropped off the radar now. The last I read, she had married, and presumably she retired afterward. Perhaps she's even begun a family. If so, good for her. She had a more interesting and notable career than many of her fellow Japanese actresses, and it seems as if she did it on her own terms. That's really the best that you can hope for sometimes.